, Types of Rop e str ength and flexibility. If very little tension is app lied during the ropemaking process, the product wiil be nop py and flexible (soft laid), whereas great tension produ'e5 sri ff (hard la id) ~ruff. H:lrd laid lines wear hetrer but soh laid ones are preferable for tyi ng knots. A thr~-strand rope is known as a hawse r (a nd SO is h:lwsc r·1aid). Three hawsers laid up lefthanded make a nine-strand ,able. FOUT-strand (shroud-bid) rop e is less common and require s a core of yarns to fill the hollow space tha t inevi tably occurs at the heart of s u, h ropes. ufrha nded hawsers (and righlhanded c:ables) are rare but !lot unknown. Textile workers, weavers and braiders prefer the terms S-Iaid (Iehhanded) and Z·laid (righthanded) for th e alternating twist and countertwis! of ya rns, strands and rupes.
Vege table fibres are short and must be spun and tw isted to create
the long yarns and S\Tands needed for rope. If is the countless fibre ends that give traditional ropes thei r charaaerisric hairy appear:met and useful su rface
grip. Long symhnic filaments run the full le ngth of the ropes th ey fo rm , so manmade cordage 1$ smoot h - unless the filaments arc purposely chopped into shorter lengths of staple fibres to make ropes that recapture the desirable handling qua lities of the older natu ra l co rdage. Mo re fibres and ya rns make thicker cordage, and a rope thaI is twice Ihe diamcte r of ano ther will, as a general rule, be fou r li mes as strong (because the cross-sectional area has bee n quadrupled). LA ID
It is the twi st and counter-twist
imparted during manufaCture that
BRAIDED Braided vegetable fibre cordage has always been I'3re, except in
holds rope su ands together and gives th em their geometry,
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smnll sizes for nag hal yards and Sas h window cord. In synt hetics it is co mmo np lace and in many ways preferable to strands. An g. or 16.plait (b raid ) is more {lcxible and stretches less than laid line. h docs nOt kink. nor docs it impart a spinning marion when loaded (as laid lines tend to do). Some braided cordage is hollow. In most, howeve r, a se parate co re provides strength, elastici ty and other esse ntial prup~rties, reinforced by the sheath, whi,h adds ext ra surface clIaracte risti l;5, such as frierion, feel, resistance' fO abrasion, sunlight and ,hemicals. Th is core may take several di ffereD! forms, in which a braided outer sheath encloses heart Strands that can be braided, laid o r co mposed of parallel lllu ltifilamc!l!S, monofi laments or yarns. Braid-un -braid is ackno wledged to be th e strongest of cordage consrructions and braided synthetic lines are Ihe maS! \'e r!>3tile of all co rdage.
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